2011 Calvin Awards: Breakthrough Performance

February 16, 2011

Maybe this will earn me that guest spot on Glee.

Our female superfecta closes out as Noomi Rapace of the Millennium trilogy of films finishes in fourth place. It’s mighty challenging to take on a role so instantly iconic as that of Lisbeth Salanger – Stieg Larsson painted such a detailed and deliberate picture of her in his novels that there were certain to be preconceived notions of what the character should look like. Yet, Rapace crafted Salander in her own way, distinct and memorable. As it happens, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest were all released in the US in 2010, so we were able to see Rapace carry the portrayal through to the very end. The Swedish actress has been able to leverage her work in these foreign films to starring roles in Sherlock Holmes 2 as well as Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus.

Finally in fifth place we find our highest placing dude in the Breakthrough category. Andrew Garfield truly wowed us as Eduardo Saverin, the only real friend to Mark Zuckerberg through the whole Facebook creation process, yet still a person left as betrayed and shattered as everyone else. Saverin is the closest thing The Social Network has to a protagonist, and Garfield made the character remarkably sympathetic and relatable through the entire devastating process. Like our other top five finishers, Garfield has plenty of excitement in his near future. He’s playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marc Webb-directed reboot. There are a lot of potential blockbusters in the future of these actors.

Sixth place takes us back to the ladies, as we admired Chloe Moretz for her work in Kick-Ass (though she was certainly laudable in Let Me In and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, too). It’s not easy for a youngster to play a character like Hit Girl – it’s extremely uncomfortable to watch someone that age speaking such foul language and committing unspeakable atrocities – but Moretz hits all the right notes. Along with preparing for a Kick-Ass sequel, Moretz will also be featured in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming 2011 release, Hugo Cabret.




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Tom Hardy and Justin Timberlake take the seventh and eighth spots on the list. Hardy has a supporting role in Inception, but it is full of nuance, and he successfully convinces the viewer of his cocky self-assuredness in just a few moments. He’ll soon be translating these talents to Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Dark Knight rises, where he’ll player uber-scary baddie Bane. As for Timberlake, he made people believe in his acting ability as he played the super sleazy (and cheesy) Sean Parker, founder of Napster. Anyone who ever doubted Timberlake’s charisma will see it on full display here, as Parker “woos” Mark Zuckerberg to the dark side with his big ideas. He’ll soon star with third place finisher Emma Stone in the summer film Friends With Benefits.

Speaking of Mark Zuckerberg, the man who played him is our ninth place selection. It’s quite possible that he’s not higher on the list because a number of our voters might believe that Eisenberg has already “broken through,” as he’s been noteworthy in such movies as Roger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland and Zombieland (seriously, how many degrees are there between Emma Stone and every actor on this list?). Our top ten closes out with Rooney Mara, who had a small but pivotal role in The Social Network as the girl who effectively pushes Zuckerberg to start Facemash, which would eventually lead him to develop quite possibly the biggest Web site on the planet. We also continue our theme of interconnectivity between our top ten in this category when we examine Mara’s next role, which is…Lisbeth Salander in the American, David Fincher-directed version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Finishing just outside the top ten in this category are Black Swan’s Mila Kunis (who will star with Emma Stone and Justin Timberlake in Friends With Benefits), Scott Pilgrim’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead (up next in a remake of The Thing), Mia Wasikowska (who placed strongly for both The Kids Are All Right and Alice in Wonderland) and Ellen Wong, who gave it her all as Knives Chau in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. (Kim Hollis/BOP)

The Calvins Introduction
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

Top 10
Position Person Film Total Points
1 Hailee Steinfeld True Grit 145
2 Jennifer Lawrence Winter's Bone 118
3 Emma Stone Easy A 109
4 Noomi Rapace The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 88
5 Andrew Garfield The Social Network 86
6 Chloe Moretz Kick-Ass 84
7 Tom Hardy Inception 74
8 Justin Timberlake The Social Network 47
9 Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network 37
10 Rooney Mara The Social Network 32




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